Young Filmmakers Encourage Others to Be Web Safe

Winners of the What’s Your Story Internet Safety Competition announced

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Marlow, UK - May 16 2012 - When it comes to internet safety, who really does know the most? The results of a national competition reveal that the younger generation know more about staying safe online than perhaps we give them credit for. Sharing tips for using the internet has become more commonplace amongst young people and two young rappers from St Vincent's School in North London have done just that – winning £5,000 and national recognition for their education video – the Websafe Rap.

Organised by internet security specialist Trend Micro, the 'What's your Story?' competition helps teachers, parents, and young people to become more aware of internet safety, in a fun and engaging way, whilst encouraging them to act safely and responsibly online. Individuals and schools were asked to create and submit a short video, song, story, poem or drawing to share their advice to other young people about 'How to be Web Safe'; and viewers voted in their droves to choose the short list, with the judging panel selecting the final winners for each category.

The winning video, by William and Lennox both aged 11, from St Vincent's school near Mill Hill, was praised by the judges from Facebook, Yahoo, Childnet International, Diana Award, Cyber Champions and Get Safe Online for its simple, yet hard hitting message and appeal to all age ranges. The video gives suggestions and solutions for a variety of, unfortunately common online issues with a big injection of fun.

William said: "As soon as we heard about the competition, we knew it was going to be a challenge! E-Safety is such a serious topic, we had to think hard about what we could do to show others how they could be safe online. So we spoke with children our age and found out the big issues that affected them and drew up a plan on how we could advise them." Lennox continued "We wanted to make a video that was unique and interesting to people our age. We enjoy rapping and had recently created some raps in Literacy, so we thought we'd use our talents to make a catchy rap to give people our age advice on how to stay safe online. We knew our rap would be something children would enjoy and more likely to listen to. We really enjoyed taking part in the competition!"

"Keeping children safe online is paramount; from cyberbullying to viruses and the more publicised risks, it's all about striking the right balance between allowing them to maintain a sense of independence and feeling able to ask for advice – and this competition allows them to do just that, while sharing their own experiences too. There's plenty of knowledge to be shared between children and their friends – and William and Lennox have demonstrated just this, by identifying online safety issues, and giving sensible advice." said Rik Ferguson, Director Security Research & Communication EMEA at Trend Micro

Tony Neate, CEO, Get Safe Online said: "New technologies keep us more connected than ever, however with recent research from Trend Micro citing a third of 11-15 year old children take more risks online than in real life, we need new ways to teach young people how to use the internet responsibly. This year, competition entries really showed the depth of young people's grasp on both the benefits and risks of internet use, and we're pleased William and Lennox's 'Web Safe Rap' shows how to stay safe online in a fun way. Get Safe Online supports the 'What's Your Story' competition as well as any endeavour that showcases top ways stay safe online."

Luc Delany at Facebook said: "Nothing is more important to us at Facebook than the safety of those using the site. For young people, the internet has become a part of their everyday lives, a way to communicate with, and learn from their friends. For us this competition is key to educating future generations about the opportunities and risks of the internet and ultimately becoming more web savvy"

About Trend Micro
Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704), a global leader in security software, strives to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Our solutions for consumers, Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ provide layered content security to protect information on mobile devices, endpoints, gateways, servers and the cloud. Trend Micro enables the smart protection of information, with innovative security technology that is simple to deploy and manage, and fits an evolving ecosystem. Leveraging these solutions, organizations can protect their end users, their evolving data center and cloud resources, and their information threatened by sophisticated targeted attacks.